Nurses driven by compassion for victims

Feb. 16, 2013

Kim Tweedy, a sexual assault nurse examiner, is shown demonstrating the use of an alternative light source to help find find bodily fluids for collection purposes in the exam room used by the Mid-Iowa Sexual Assault Team at Mercy Hospital. / Mary Chind/The Register

Written by

Jane Schorer Meisner

Special to The Register

“I have been interrupted during about everything you can think of — sleep, grocery shopping, family pictures, kids’ ball games, church, vacation, reading a book with my kids, kids’ bath time, family game night, you name it.”

Knudsen, 30, of Madrid, coordinates the sexual assault nurse examiners, or SANEs, for the Mid-Iowa Sexual Assault Response Team. She also works as an examiner 30 to 40 hours per month.

Of the 21 active nurse examiners on the team, some serve on call a few hours a month and others for 100 or more hours, she said.

The factors that draw nurses to the job vary, but many are looking to expand their knowledge and skills beyond a typical nursing role, Knudsen said.

“A lot of nurses have compassion for the victims of crime and have a strong desire to make sure the victims are given the best individual care,” she said.

Kim Tweedy, 42, of West Des Moines was earning a certificate in forensic nursing in 2006 when she responded to an ad seeking nursing professionals who had a passion for working with crime victims.

Sexual assault nurse examiners must be registered nurses, preferably with at least one year of experience. They must complete a 40-hour training course and unpaid shadowing time with an experienced examiner.

Tweedy, who has a master’s degree in nursing, completed sexual assault nurse examiner training through the University of Iowa and now is usually on call for the team 30 to 40 hours per month. She and her fellow nurse examiners are paid $2 per hour for being on call.

Like Knudsen, Tweedy said she never knows when a call may come. Once, her on-call shift was almost over, so she took a chance and ran an errand.

“Sure enough, I got called standing with my dogs in PetSmart,” she said.

The victims she cares for are hard to dismiss from her mind, Tweedy said.

One woman was brought to the hospital by her husband. The couple had been at a function together, but he left early, she said. The woman got a ride home with a friend and five men she thought her friend knew.

“After dropping her friend off, the men took her somewhere where she was beaten, strangled and gang-raped,” Tweedy said. “Her husband felt guilty that he had left early, and he was inconsolable. She was inconsolable, too. It was so hard for her to tell her story. I was with them for hours.”

The victims often think their case will evolve as quickly as an episode of TV’s “CSI,” she said.

“As much as we wish this was how the process occurred, it isn’t, and SANEs are in a better position than emergency department staff to answer many of these questions,” Tweedy said. “We are dedicated to that single patient and do not have to triage our time between multiple patients, like the emergency department staff.”

Victims do not have to make a report, be examined or have an advocate present, Tweedy said.

“But victims have the right to health care services, to victim advocates, to have evidence collected and to make a report when they are ready,” she said. “The victims decide what is in their best interest. We want them to feel empowered and to know they have control back.”